Islamic apologia by Encyclopedia of Orient

Submitted by Vijay (United Kingdom), Jun 16, 2006 at 05:27

The cyclopedia says: "It was at all times clear that devsirme was contradictory to Muslim law, Sharia."

This is just non-sense. Mohammed and other early Muslims owned slaves and Koran assumes the permanant existence of slavery. Slavery has been practiced without break from the time of Mohammed to now. If slavery had been "abolished" by Sharia, how come it has been thriving in Islamic societies unabated?

http://www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/ReadArticle.asp?ID=4686

http://www.gnxp.com/blog/2005/08/slaves-by-grace-of-god.php

http://www.christianaction.org.za/articles_ca/2004-4-TheScourgeofSlavery.htm

"While the mortality rate for slaves being transported across the Atlantic was as high as 10%, the percentage of slaves dying in transit in the Trans Sahara and East African slave trade was between 80 and 90%!"

Even in American school text books, islamic slavery is whitewashed, stupidly assuming if you don't talk about it, it won't happen.

Note: Opinions expressed in comments are those of the authors alone and not necessarily those of Daniel Pipes. Original writing only, please. Comments are screened and in some cases edited before posting. Reasoned disagreement is welcome but not comments that are scurrilous, off-topic, commercial, disparaging religions, or otherwise inappropriate. For complete regulations, see the "Guidelines for Reader Comments".

Daniel Pipes replies:

No, it is not nonsense. The Shari`a permits enslavement only in Dar al-Harb, not Dar al-Islam, where Muslims rule.